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Our Mission

The goals of the Safer Nanomaterials and Nanomanufacturing Initiative [SNNI] are to develop new nanomaterials and nanomanufacturing approaches that offer a high level of performance, yet pose minimal harm to human health or the environment.

Life Cycle of Nanomaterials (LCNano)

SNNI participates in a grant from the EPA's Extramural Projects, NCCLCs: Life Cycle of Nanomaterials (LCnano). This project involves an interdisciplinary team of chemists, toxicologists, scientists, engineers, and social scientists to evaluate the trade-offs between intended function of NMs in products and risks to humans and the environment across their life cycle from creation, through use and disposal. EPA Grant Number: RD835580

Green Nanotechnology

Research under the Initiative merges the principles of green chemistry and nanoscience to produce safer nanomaterials and more efficient nanomanufacturing processes in the context of producing nanoparticles and nanostructured materials for applications in fields such as in photovoltaics, nanoelectronics and sensing.

Download a copy of ourGreen Nano Report, written in collaboration with the American Chemistry Society - Green Chemistry Institute.

Working Together

The Initiative brings together chemists, biologists, materials scientists and engineers from the Oregon Nanoscience and Microtechnologies Institute [ONAMI] to pioneer new approaches to the design, production and use of nanomaterials. SNNI was initially developed in partnership with and funded by the Air Force Research Laboratory.

Research to Innovation Enterprises and Facilities

SNNI leads the global green nanotechnology effort by bringing in over $50M in individual and collaborative research grants through its seed funding. These seed grants helped launch other Centers and other services for industry, government laboratories and academia. For more infomation visit our Research or Services links.

Nanomaterials-Biological Interactions Knowledgebase (NBI)

Researchers within SNNI are developing a collaborative knowledgebase of Nanomaterial-Biological Interactions (NBI). The NBI is intended to offer industry, academia, the general public, and regulatory agencies a mechanism to rationally inquire for unbiased interpretation of nanomaterial exposure effects in biological systems.

News

Researchers find, and possibly fix, toxicity in nanomaterials: UO and Oregon State University scientists were baffled. New testing of mixtures of nanoparticles had led to an 88 percent mortality rate in zebrafish embryos, after earlier testing had found the materials to be free of toxins.
Looking more extensively, they found that a new automated...